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Frequently Asked Questions
1. How much will this cost me?
Answer: The nature and
expected duration of the legal work will determine how much you will be
charged. Many legal tasks can be done on a fixed fee basis and you would
pay no more than the agreed amount, plus expenses incurred such as
messenger services, copy charges at my cost, postage, and the like. If a
fixed fee is not appropriate, you would be charged an hourly rate.
2. Will you handle the work
yourself or will it be done by someone else?
Answer: I will be doing
all the work unless the matter is very complex and it becomes necessary to
have another lawyer work with me. If that should happen, you will be
advised immediately when the necessity arises.
3, How will I know what is
happening?
Answer: I will keep you
advised on a regular basis of the status of the matter. I am always
available by telephone and will answer all your questions promptly.
4. How should I prepare for a
meeting with you?
Answer: It is best to
gather together all the documents you have concerning the matter and bring
them to our first meeting so that I can review them at that meeting and be
better able to advise you what course of action is recommended.
5. If I cannot come to see
you, will you travel to see me?
Answer: It depends mostly
on the distance between your home and my office. I would be willing to do
so without charge if you are located in Nassau or Queens County. If a
substantial distance is involved, however, I might charge a fee for travel
but that would be agreed upon before the meeting.
6. Are you available on nights
and weekends?
Answer: Yes, depending on
other commitments I have at that time.
7. How do you handle a
retainer?
Answer: With new clients
and depending on the nature of the matter, I may ask for a cash retainer
which I would hold in my escrow account and disburse only for time worked
and expenses incurred. Once the retainer is used up, I may ask for an
additional retainer before proceeding further.
8. Explain your billing
procedures.
Answer: I bill monthly
unless there is very little work done in that month in which case I may
hold off billing until the charges warrant sending a bill. Payment is due
within 15 days of billing. I reserve the right to ask for late charges on
bills more than 90 days overdue, retroactive to the initial due date, at
the rate of 18% per annum.
9. What is estate planning?
Estate planning is an
analysis of many family and personal factors including finances,
anticipated estate taxes and their impact on your estate plan, your wishes
concerning the distribution of your property after your death, the need
for life insurance and long term care insurance, consideration of lifetime
trusts as an estate planning tool and a way to avoid probate, among other
things. Financial planning, on the other hand, should be handled by an
independent certified financial planner.
10. How often should I revise
my will?
Generally, it is a good
idea to review your will and your overall estate plan every five years.
Many other factors may indicate the need for more frequent revisions,
particularly changes in your heirs, such as the arrival of children or
grandchildren, the death of someone named in the will marriage, divorce or
separation, or inheriting a large amount of money or valuable property
such as artworks and the like.
11. Should I have a will?
Yes and here is why. If
you die without a will, the law of your state determines who gets your
estate. While you may assume that, being a married person with young
children, your spouse would get all of your estate, that is not the case
in New York and other states. In fact, in New York, if there is no will,
the estate is divided among the surviving spouse and children, the spouse
receiving the first $50,000 of the estate and one-half of the rest, and
the children getting the other half of the rest of the estate. Such a
result may cause serious problems for the spouse who is left with the job
of raising a family in a one-spouse household.
12. Should I have a living
trust?
Answer: In a word, it
depends. A living trust has some advantages, such as providing a way to
have your finances handled by a trustee if you are too infirm to handle
them yourself and, if the trust holds all your property, avoiding probate
of a will. The disadvantages include having to administer a trust that may
last many years, paying annual trustee commissions if you are not the
trustee, having to transfer all registered properly into the name of the
trust (stocks, bonds and other investments, real estate and so on). For
some people, this may just be too much to handle. (An alternative to
handling your financial affairs through a trust is to give a trusted
person such as your spouse or child power of attorney.) Tangible property
like furniture, jewelry, coin collections, clothing and the like are not
registered property so you would have to have a will to dispose of those
items anyway unless you trust your relatives to abide by your verbal or
written instructions regarding those items.
If you have other questions, use
the message board set up on this site.
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